Using a design ontology to identify the terms that represent the design results across research communities

Abstract

This paper is contextualized in a research project that aims to create a new paradigm to support the design process, substituting the sequential nature of design process models by a flexible structure. To implement this paradigm, we must identify the final and intermediate results of the design process, such as documents, models, artefacts, among others. However, design research is wide and multidisciplinary, resulting in non-uniformity of the terminology across research communities, what hinders the results identification by means of a literature review. This paper aims to identify the terms employed by different research communities to refer to the intermediate and final results of the design process, structuring synonym terms across research communities and establishing how those terms interrelate in the design ontology. Using literature review, the following terms were analysed: design objects, elements, deliverables, entities, information, components, data, and artefacts. The results provide a holistic view of how the terms are employed throughout research communities, supporting the creation of search strings and pointing out opportunities for improving the design ontology.